Returning frozen bone to inventory

[nmpoupard]

If you are storing, issuing and tracking tissue in the Blood Bank:

What is your criteria for accepting frozen (<-40C) tissue BACK into inventory once it has been issued?

[AMcCord]

We don't take it back unless it's less than 5 minutes after checkout, there is no evidence of tampering with packaging and it is not showing signs of thaw. (We are very, very close to the OR which is a distince advantage.) We also store in an ultra-low freezer.

Edited July 27, 2009 by AMcCord
Missed the part about <-40C

[Brenda K Hutson]

Ah, you got stuck with the Tissue Bank in the Blood Bank....so here are 2 thoughts (for the price of one)

1. Also did that in a previous job. Frozen tissues (bone) could never be returned. Now,

that being said, though we told the Surgeons that multiple times, and put it in writing,

and reminded them again when they called and said they were coming for something,

they would still inevitably want to return it, and it would end up being a big fight (but it

was only out of the freezer for a short time....you are wasting bone...says the Surgeon). No

I remind them, you have wasted bone (and NO, we would not budge on that).

2. Multiple problems with having Tissue Bank in BB as I saw it (and I will next tell you how

we got it moved back to the OR):

a) We are not tissue bankers. They would call to see if we had a "such and such;" we

would look and say NO. They would come down and say "yes you do, it is right

here." However, it was "also" called a XYZ (like we were supposed to know that)!

For small RT tissues, they would come to pick up several, not being sure which size

they would need until they looked at them. So, we had to sign them all out (logged

all tissues in on Cards upon arrival, then signed out and back in on cards; this

was our Inventory process for the Tissues). So, we then knew we were also going to

have to take the time to sign all but 1 of them back in. One time, a Rep. came with

2 briefcases full of a tissue (don't recall what it was). We had to make cards for

ALL of them. Both briefcases went to OR; sign them ALL out; only 1 used; sign all

rest back in. I said we won't do that again! Aaahhh:cries:

So, how did we get the Tissue Bank moved to the OR (which in my mind, is the appropriate place for it and the only reason it ends up in the BB, is that the OR staff say they can't monitor it as well as the BB can). So, LEARN; most of the other Hospital ORs have!! I got a list from our State Dept. of Health Services, Tissue Division of ALL of the Hospitals in the state that had a Tissue License. I called every one of them (and we are a large state), asking whether the Tissue Bank resided in the BB or the OR. Sorry, I don't recall the exact statistics, but by FAR they resided in the OR. That data, plus having a Medical Director with a backbone, got the Tissue Bank moved.

Hope that helps,

Brenda Hutson, CLS(ASCP)SBB